More than half (52 per cent) of UK rail commuters are prevented from working some of the time during their commute due to poor mobile reception.

This is according to mobile communications systems provider Cobham Wireless, which has announced the results of a survey from YouGov which polled 2,038 adults from July 5-6.

The survey canvassed the opinions of commuters that use train routes throughout the UK, with half of their journeys lasting longer than 30 minutes.

A third of passengers felt that mobile reception was good enough for them to connect to the internet, while 24 per cent didn’t rate their service at all, stating the coverage was poor.

However, just over half (51 per cent) still preferred to connect to the internet via their mobile phone provider compared to connecting to a public WiFi network (36 per cent).

Almost two thirds (63 per cent) said they preferred this option because of concerns about the security of WiFi networks on trains, while 41 per cent disliked having to share personal information to connect via that route.

Just 13 per cent stated that a WiFi service was any good, while over a fifth (22 per cent) said this wasn’t available on their train route at all.

More investment

Cobham Wireless director of product management Ingo Flömer said: “The research has revealed that in these hyper connected times the majority of commuters expect to be able to connect to the internet on trains via their mobile service provider.

“Unfortunately, because of a lack of mobile phone coverage passengers find it difficult to work during their business commute, unable to browse the internet, send emails, or even make phone calls.

“The results of the study are clear – more investment in mobile phone coverage would go a long way to improving passenger’s train journey experience and ensure they stay connected to work during their busy commute.”